


The stars are out of reach and so is earth

by Bees_forever



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ben Hargreeves is Dead, Comfort/Angst, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Good ghost-Brother Ben Hargreeves, Injury Recovery, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Permanent Injury, Serious Injuries, The Hargreeves are trying their best!, They're emotionally stunnted young adults and everything is still so fresh, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-02-12 23:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21484972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bees_forever/pseuds/Bees_forever
Summary: “Spaceboy wounded saving the world - Fans worry about Ex-Superhero”That's the headline which leads Diego to the hospital one morning.There he and his siblings don't only have to face their former number one's horrible injuries and slow recovery process but a past they had just escaped from.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Everyone, Allison Hargreeves/Patrick, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Everyone, Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Luther Hargreeves & Everyone, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Comments: 28
Kudos: 208





	1. Groundcontrol to Spaceboy.

**“Spaceboy wounded saving the world - Fans worry about Ex-Superhero”**   
That’s the title on the frontpage of the newspaper in front of the small kiosk Diego passes on his way to the police academy.  
Spaceboy? So… Luther? His brother? Are there any other spaceboys by chance?  
He reads the headline again and again and then one more time to make sure that he hasn’t misread it before he buys it.  
Sitting down on a bench he starts to read the article.

The article itself doesn’t hold many informations Diego doesn’t already know.  
It talks a lot about the Academy and their achievements to remind the readers of who they were. And no shit, Diego knew all of that already.  
There are pictures too,some of them as children and some of Luther later in his life. None of the accident itself. 

The little info he gets is enough to make Diego furious, though.  
There had been some kind of biochemical spill, Dad sent Luther to stop whatever it was and he had gotten hurt, very hurt if the article is anything to go by. _  
_“Critical condition” is what the article calls it and Diego knows what that means: Luther is fucked. Really fucked.

And was that any wonder when the absolute idiot went out and _did missions on his_ _own_?

Though there wasn’t any arguing on that with Dad - the world needed saving, missions had to be done like households chores in a normal family and Reginald Hargreeves children had to shoulder it all. _Hooray_ and long live the Umbrella Academy!  
Diego shakes his head grimly. Idiot. Luther is such an _idiot_.  
Why hadn’t he gotten out faster?  
And what is Diego supposed to do about his idiotbrother now?

He stares at the article one more time before he allows himself to glance at his watch and - _SHIT_ \- he’s late again.  
He has to hurry if he still wants to catch the course on criminal law and Patch who had given him the watch would probably be pretty annoyed and it might cause problems with the police academy too.  
He stuffs the paper into his backpack hasty.  
For now Luther is almost forgotten.  
He has to run.

* * *

Diego stumbles into the police academy and is almost in time. Almost.  
He walks to the classroom and lets himself fall onto a chair close to the door.  
  
Eudora turns around to him raising an eyebrow. She mouths:_ ‘Late again?’_  
Diego shrugs and mouths back: _‘Family.’_  
She frowns at that. _‘Klaus?’_  
Diego shakes his head. It isn’t Klaus this time. He’d have to tell her about that later though. Lesson is about to start. 

It’s weirdly nice to talk with Patch about his messed up family.  
She’s not involved with the situation and because of that her take on the situation is accurate most of the time.  
He’d never thought that it would help him that much to open up to someone about his family troubles but it really does help and he’s glad that she listens.  
Even when she sometimes says things that he'd rather not hear.

“So. What’s up?” Patch asks him during their lunch break.  
Diego shrugs peeling the hard-boiled egg she has brought him, Patch had started to bring him lunches after she watched him eat raw egg for lunch for their first week or so in the police academy.  
  
“It’s…” he sighs and pulls the newspaper out of his backpack to show it to Patch.  
She frowns. “Spaceboy? That’s uh… that’s the one with the strength right?”  
“Yeah,” he says and nods. “Luther. _Number One._” Diego can’t help but spit out the last words.  
“Ah! Your complex brother,” she nods looking at him.  
“Is that why you were late? Did you visit him?”  
Diego shakes his head. “Just bought the paper, class was starting…”  
“And since when has that concerned you?” she asks him with a sarcastic smile.  
Diego shrugs.

She’s right. If it was Klaus in the hospital he’d just skip criminal law. He’s done so before.  
But it’s not Klaus. It’s Luther.  
Patch looks at him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “You know you don’t have to visit your brother in the hospital if you don’t want to, right? You don’t owe him anything.”

She has said the same thing before about Klaus whenever he overdosed in the past and Diego always went to see him in the hospital anyway but this is different.  
This isn’t about Klaus. This is about Luther.  
They spent their childhoods trying to outdo each other and now they were spending their adulthood trying to avoid each other.  
With Klaus, Diego felled the responsibility to make right for not protecting him when they were children… then again he hadn’t really ever even _tried_ to protect Luther, sure, mostly because it didn’t seem like he needed all that much protection at least when they were little.  
As adults… Diego guesses he could have at least tried to get him out of that house.  
He tries to imagine being all alone with Dad. For years.  
If that wasn’t horrible he didn’t know what was.

There's another part in him though.  
One less sympathetic who tells him that Luther kind of had it coming.  
After all Luther always stood with their father and had decided to stay at home himself.  
  


Still. He's his brother and Diego wants to know what is up exactly.

He sighs deeply. “I gotta make sure our father isn’t there first… he might be ‘cause it’s Luther you know?” he says after thinking about it.  
The bitterness has crept back into his voice. To her credit Patch doesn’t comment on it.

* * *

It’s afternoon when Diego walks into the hospital.  
Patch is there too, she asked him if he wants her to come with him, knowing he would never come to her even if he’d need her.  
And he needs her right now.

Diego has to think about something Klaus told him about her: “She’s good for you makes you stronger because you let her in. And she likes you enough to keep up with you despite seeing right through your bullshit, that’s awesome and you won’t find that often.”  
In between being high as a kite Klaus actually is able to say something that makes sense sometimes.

The receptionist looks up suspicious when they ask to see Luther Hargreeves.

“Are you press? Because no way in that case. Family only.”  
Diego is glad that the receptionist looks out for this stuff, the last thing Luther needs right now are journalists crowding him in the hospital room.  
But it means Patch won’t be able to come with him to see Luther.

She takes his hand and smiles at him. “I’ll just be in the waiting room, got a book to read.”  
Diego swallows. He should say ‘thank you’ right now. But he’s too distracted by the thought of going to see Luther on his own.  
Last time they saw each other it had ended in a big fight that had left him exhausted and upset and on the streets out of the house and Luther... he had no idea how it had left Luther.  
“Yeah, okay,” he says instead of thanking her but squeezes her hand back before he heads towards the elevator.

He doesn’t know what he is hoping for as he walks to his brother’s hospital room.  
  
Diego almost runs into a nurse coming out of his brothers room.  
“Sorry,” he mumbles and she shakes her head.  
“No problem, dear,” she tells him then looks at him frowning. “Are you family?”  
“His brother,” he tells her and when she looks at him confused he adds. “Adopted.”  
Apparently this nurse isn’t familiar with the history of the academy.  
How refreshing, Diego thinks.

She lets him in, though Diego has the feeling she’ll check in with the receptionist.  
That’s fine, he thinks, the receptionist got all the important information.

Diego breathes out as he slowly closes the door behind him before he turns to look at his brother.  
Luther is asleep in the big white hospital bed and _damn_… his brother looks really bad.  
Luther is pale with dark circles under his eyes.  
There's an IV running from Luther’s left arm, apparently the one less affected as his right hand is completely wrapped in bandages, his chest is too and he looks so small and young for a giant twenty-two years old.  
Diego can’t believe he’s really looking at Luther.  
This is not the brother he left in the house five years ago.  
Shit.   
  
This is all Reginald’s fault. He let this happen to Luther and now everything is wrong, Diego thinks suddenly angry.  
Luther is supposed to look like the adult-version of the strong, entitled kid Diego spend his whole childhood trying to outdo, not like someone who's almost dead.  
It can’t be _that_ bad though, Diego can’t lose another brother.

He reaches out to touch Luther’s left hand having the sudden need to _feel_ that his brother's still alive.  
“One thing’s clear,” he tells his sleeping brother and the empty room. “You’re not going back home. Dad did this to you and he can’t even be bothered to visit you now.”

Even _if_ their father should turn up (the fact that that is even such a big if shows what kind of a man Reginald Hargreeves is) he has no right to go and try to get Luther under his control again.  
He’d absolutely make Luther go on more missions as soon as he gets better.  
If he ever will… shit… but of course he will. Right? He has to.

“You idiot,” he says and looks down at Luther. “You’ve seen what happened to Ben and still... “ he shakes his head softly.  
Reginald did this. He send Luther off and Luther - always willing to follow his damn orders - ran straight into chemicals.  
Diego makes a face and closes his eyes.  
This is bad but not hopeless.  
  


* * *

  
  
There’s a knock at the door and Diego pulls his hand back from Luther’s like it has burned him.

The door opens and Vanya peaks in. “You’re here?” she asks barely hiding her surprise.  
“You’re too,” Diego says and shrugs. Vanya visiting Luther in the hospital is just as surprising as him being here.  
She looks down briefly then shrugs before she goes into the room to examine Luther lying in his bed.

“Shit,” she whispers.  
“That’s what I said too,” Diego tells her. “Big shit.”  
She looks up at him and bites her lip. “Big shit,” she agrees and pulls a chair towards the bed.  
Diego keeps standing as they silently watch over their injured brother.

She breaks the silence that follows after a bit by asking: “Did you talk with any of his doctors yet?”  
Diego shakes his head. “No. You?”  
“No… me neither…” she bites her lip looking at Luther again. “Do you think he’ll get better?”  
Diego shrugs. “I dunno,” he tells her honestly and frowns crossing his arms in front of his chest wishing that he had his knives to fidget with right now but those aren’t allowed in hospitals. “It… it looks kinda bad,” he says almost choking on the words.  
Vanya nods. “It does,” she whispers as if she is scared that if she talks to loud Luther is going to wake up.  
“Fuck,” Diego says.  
Vanya nods again.  
_Fuck._

They remain in an uncomfortable silence for a while, just staring at Luther until the door opens again and someone enters, filling the room with the smell of cigarette smoke and something very sweet Diego can not identify.  
Klaus has lost some weight since he last saw him but other than that he looks his usual mess.

“Looks like we’re interrupting a party!” he says a little too cheery and completely tone-deaf before his eyes fall on Luther.  
“Oh…” he breathes out and walks up to the bed blinking like he can’t really believe it. “So, it was really… Christ on a cracker, bro.”  
Then he looks back at the door. “Yes, I can see that!” he says and shakes his head like he’s trying to make a thought go away.  
  
He looks at Diego and Vanya and waves his hand a little. “Hi, guys,” he says and smiles a little.  
“Hey, Klaus,” Vanya says.  
“How’s he doing?” Klaus asks them nodding at Luther. “Do you know anything?”  
They both shrug and shake their heads.

Klaus sighs deeply as an answer.  
“Okay…” he says then and nods. “Great.”  
  
Of course this is neither okay nor great.   
  
He leans over Luther and puts a hand on his forehead.  
“It’s okay,” he whispers and then something Diego can’t understand.  
When he looks up again he grins sheepishly.

Vanya clears her throat. “One of us should talk with one of his doctor. So that we know what’s up?” she looks at her brothers biting her lip.  
Klaus and Diego both nod but none of the three of them move.  
  
In the end it’s Diego who gets up rolling his eyes. “Okay fine, I’m going,” he tells his siblings shaking his head.  
He should check in with Eudora anyway.

* * *

  
  
  
He goes to see how her first.  
She’s sitting in the waiting room reading her book and when he sits down next to her she looks up and smiles at him.  
“Hey, how's your brother doing?”  
“Sleeping at the moment,” Diego says and shrugs looking at his hands. “He’s… it looks kinda b-bad, Dora…”  
She puts a hand on his back.  
“I gotta talk with one of his doctors b-but… but… I don’t know where to find them...”  
“Let’s just ask at the reception again okay?”

He nods glad that she’s there to help him with this.  
He doesn’t think he could manage all of this on his own right now. He doesn’t think he can manage anything in fact and he’s so grateful that she’s here, helping him with this mess.  
He couldn’t have shown it back with Vanya and Klaus but he feels so helpless.

The woman at the reception refers them to Luther’s doctor and once again Patch can’t come with him but she squeezes his hand and her eyes tell him that he got this and he believes her.  
He thinks it’s good that they don’t say these things out loud, saying things out loud would feel pretentious.

The doctor, a woman with a strong handshake, smiles tightly upon greeting him.  
“Mr Hargreeves, it’s good to see that you and your siblings are visiting your brother,” she tells him and her eyes are fixed on Diego. “I’ll be honest with you, we were expecting your father to come. We’ve been trying to contact him. Could you maybe…”  
“No!” Diego says a little too quickly and clears his throat. “I mean… our father and I we don’t have the best relationship…”  
She sighs but nods. “I see, do you know if one of your other siblings could? He seemed to be your brother’s main concern whenever he was conscious enough to speak with us.”  
That was something that doesn’t surprise Diego at all.  
Before Luther does anything he asks himself '_What would Dad think of me?'_ and if he doesn’t find that their father would approve of his actions… well he probably wouldn’t do it.  
_Like a good soldier._  
But then again, Diego used to be like that too.  
There had been a time, seemingly long ago now, where they all tried to please the man.  
Though they realized that he wasn’t worth it eventually.  
  
Maybe this is what Luther needed to see what a horrible man their father was.  
Just… Diego still doesn't know what kind of price his brother is paying for that possible freedom yet.

So he clears his throat and looks away from the doctor.  
“I could… I mean I think maybe I can talk with our Mom? Maybe she could get Dad to come…”  
That’s more than unlikely though. Reginald Hargreeves would probably rather go out of the house without his dumb monocle than listen to the robot he’d built with more heart than he ever had, Diego thinks bitterly but it’s worth a try and the doctor would probably be more willing to tell him about her patient if she doesn’t think he’s a horrible person who doesn’t want to get his father for his injured brother because of some family feud.

She nods and smiles a little but her eyes are still studying him as if she knows what he’s thinking.  
He clears his throat. “Can we talk about my brother now? What exactly happened?”  
She nods and sighs “He was brought to us yesterday early in the morning, we immediately did an emergency surgery on him,” she looks at Diego seriously. He’s starting to suspect that serious is her default mood. “Mr. Hargreeves I need you to understand that your brother’s condition was and still is very critical. He went into cardiac arrest a couple of times and we had to revive him, honestly he’s lucky he’s still alive.”  
Diego breathes out. It had really been that bad, hadn’t it?  
_Shit, Luther._  
  
“There will be consequences. Difficulties. It’s a long way of recovery he has ahead.”  
SHIT.  
“What kind of consequences?”  
“There’s tissue and muscle damage especially in his arms and hands…”  
  
Diego wants to punch something hearing that. Luther’s the strong one. That’s always been what’s defined him in their fucked-up family, that and his role as number one but he couldn’t very well still be that now that everyone else was gone right?  
Did it even matter that Luther’s muscle tissue was damaged? Did that affect his superhuman strength?  
Diego has no idea.  
“Is… what’s going to happen now?”  
The doctor sighs. “He has a hard and stony road towards recovery ahead of him. Your brother will need a lot of support in more than one way.”  
  
  
Diego thinks about Vanya and Klaus one straight from violin practice and one from who-knows-where, thinks of Eudora waiting outside and thinks of himself who came despite not wanting to.  
  
“He got that. No matter what.”


	2. Crying over spilled acid

Luther stays asleep for four more days. He wakes up in between a few times, always confused and always asking for Dad who doesn’t show up once in those four days.  
But on the second day somebody shows up. Allison. As soon as she heard of the accident she booked a flight.

Now she stays in Luther’s room with Klaus while Diego and Vanya are occupied with their daily life.

The four of them agreed on not leaving their brother alone in the hospital, at least not until he’s fully awake again.

It’s Klaus who is with him when Luther finally wakes up and to the surprise of everyone he calls them dutifully while the doctors do a bunch of tests on Luther.

Only thirty minutes after that Diego and Vanya arrive at the hospital meeting in front of the hospital.  
He’s straight from the police academy and she still has her violin on her back.

Allison is already there having booked a hotel room near the hospital.

As the two of them head upstairs to Luther’s room they don’t say anything, they’re both tense, they have no idea how their brother is going to be, now that he’s finally really awake.  
  
  
When they open the door to Luther’s room Allison and Klaus are sitting at his bedside and are talking to him.  
  
“No,” Klaus says just then. “Not yet.”  
“But did you contact him?” Luther asks looking at him desperately. “Does he know what happened?”  
“Of course we tried to contact him,” Allison says and Diego can hear that she’s trying her very best to keep up her patience. “He knows Luther.”  
  
Diego sighs and almost rolls his eyes.  
It’s Dad they’re talking about. Just like the other times Luther woke up before all he’s thinking about is their sorry excuse for a father while his siblings spend the last four days in his hospital room.  
He almost walks right into the room at that moment to tell Luther how dickish he’s behaving but Vanya’s hand brushes against his and she shakes her head ever so slightly.  
  
Diego takes a deep breath while Vanya enters the room.  
“Hey Luther,” she says and smiles at him as she walks to his bed. “How are you?”

Luther looks up at them and - _shit_ \- Diego hoped that their brother would look somewhat better once he was awake.  
But he still looks hurt, tired, weak and uncanny small for someone who’s 6 ft 5 and Diego isn’t sure how he should respond to seeing his brother like this.  
He doesn’t like this.  
This isn’t right.  
  
  
Diego decides to stand in the corner, crossing his arms in front of his chest while Vanya pulls a chair up next to Allison’s.  
“How are you?” she repeats and looks at their brother.  
Luther shrugs. “I don’t know. The doctors said that they have me on painkillers…” he says and adds: “You know. To kill the pain.”  
Klaus snorts a little and Luther shoots him a look.  
“What? That’s what they’re for,” he argues.  
Klaus smiles and pets his good hand slightly. “Yeah, I know, totally. Only to kill pain,” he says and grins.  
Luther frowns confused.  
  
“Klaus…” Allison says and he shrugs leaning back in the chair.  
  
“I don’t like them,” Luther says suddenly. “They make me woozy and tired and I don’t like the feeling.”  
“It’s just for as long as you need them,” Allison tells him.  
“Yes,” Vanya says and looks at him. “You got badly hurt, Luther. Really badly.”  
  
Luther nods slowly and looks in between all of them. “But I did get the mission done, right? Nobody else got hurt,” he says biting his lip slightly. “Right?” “Yeah,” Klaus starts slowly. “It was only you who…”  
“Good,” Luther says and leans back. “When can I go home? I need to brief Dad about this.”  
  
  
Diego doesn’t know which one of these statements makes him the most angry.  
The nonchalant _Good_ after being told that he was the only one hurt, him asking when he could go home or him bringing up their father and even wanting to _brief_ the son of a bitch.  
Maybe it’s even all of those things combined.  
Whatever it is, it’s enough to drive Diego over the edge.  
  
  
“_Bullshit_!” he yells and takes a step out of his corner. “You need to brief Dad? I’ll tell you what you need to do: You _need_ to stay in the hospital, you _need_ to get better you _need_ to be as far away as possible from Dad who can’t even be bothered to visit you and you _need_ to listen to us and to your doctors. Do you _understand_ that?”  
“But…” Luther starts and Diego can see that he gets ready to counter this but he won’t have it.  
  
Luther is in no position to argue right now.  
They aren’t children anymore.  
  
“No! I’m _still_ talking. I don’t think you understand how serious this is! You almost died, we almost lost another brother, you get that? And we still don’t know how much of your movement you’re going to regain!”  
  
Luther stares at him face even paler now.  
  
“What…? My movement?”  
Fuck. They haven’t yet discussed how to break the news to Luther but Diego kinda hoped he’d heard about it from one of the doctors or that maybe Allison and Klaus would take on that part.  
Clearly neither of was the case.  
  
Allison shoots him an angry look and gets up.  
“Luther,” she starts and sighs rubbing his good shoulder. “It’s… we don’t really know how bad it is but your doctor said there’s been some… some damage.”  
“Damage?” Luther echoes and looks in between them doubtfully as if he expects them to break out into laughter and tell him they were only joking.  
“Look…” Allison says and looks at the others. “The doctors aren’t sure yet. We’ll see how bad it is once you’re a little better.”  
Klaus nods and speaks up as well: “But keep in mind that the accident was really bad.”  
Diego frowns, where’s that sudden seriousness coming from?  
  
“Then why is Dad not here?” Luther asks suddenly and Diego can spot tears in his eyes. “Why’s he not here if it was so bad? He’s my father. I’m _his son_! Father’s are supposed to turn up when their children get hurt but he isn’t, he…”  
“He just sucks,” Diego finishes for him because Luther is spiralling and someone has to speak the truth for once. “Dad sucks, that’s why he isn’t here, Luther. He sucks and he doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself.”  
The look that Luther gives him is almost comical but this whole situation isn’t so fucking serious.  
Diego breathes in. He needs to be careful.  
  
“Dad sucks, okay? He isn’t here. But we are okay?”  
“Yes. And it isn’t your fault. And we care, okay?” Klaus adds. “Isn’t that right guys?”  
They all nodd.  
  
Klaus puts one hand on Luther’s good one and smiles at him.  
  
“And none of us are going to leave you now,” Allison says.  
Luther says nothing just stares at his bandaged hand.  
“Luther?” Vanya asks him softly.  
“What if there really will be damage. Like a lot of it? What if Dad could… could solve it?” he asks quietly a few of the tears falling onto the blanket now... Diego scoffs. “Dad can’t do anything better than the doctors here.”  
“Plus even if there is something wrong…” Klaus says. “We’ve been through worse, right? And anyway, Lu, the doctors here never had a guy in here like you."  
  
  
Luther nods slowly but he still starts crying and none of them are able to calm him down until he finally falls asleep again.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
“What the hell was that, Diego?”  
  
Diego has never seen anyone eating salad as angrily as Allison is eating hers right now.  
  
Her, him and Klaus are in one of the restaurants near the hospital while Vanya who apparently has eaten lunch already wanted to stay with Luther.  
  
Allison of course takes the first opportunity to scold Diego about his behavior at the hospital.  
Klaus is busy eating at least.  
  
“Well, we had to tell it to him somehow!” Diego tries to defend himself.  
“And you thought the best way to do that was by _yelling_ it at him like it’s his fault? Or telling him that Dad doesn’t care? Because that was fucking insensitive,” she tells him, takes another mouthful of salad which gets chewed angrily and gives him a look Diego knows all too well from their childhood and adolescent.  
It’s the look she gets during arguments.  
The dangerous one.  
The one that tells the others that she will win this argument.  
With or without the help of her powers.  
  
“What an _amazing_ idea Diego! Is that how they teach you to deal with trauma victims at the police academy? Because if that’s the case…”  
“Oh come on, Luther isn’t..”  
“What else would you call it? He’s been burned by _biochemicals_! It’s traumatic!” Allison says and shakes her head.  
  
Diego tries to come up with something to reply.  
But there isn't anything he really has to say when Allison is right.  
Luther has been injured, badly, permanently and Diego was a bit of an ass to him in the hospital, not that what he said isn’t true but maybe he shouldn’t have talked about it right after Luther woke up.  
  
Diego shrugs and looks down at his food.  
  
Allison sighs and relaxes, leaning back a little and looking in between Klaus and Diego.  
“We have to stick together,” she says and looks around. “Protect him, stay with him.”  
Diego looks at her he’s still a little mad. “Are you going to stay too? Isn’t your big movie star schedule far too full?”  
  
Allison looks at him and shakes her head.  
“No. I cancelled my new movie,” she says quietly. “As soon as I found out how bad it was, I want to be here now,” she tells them and casts her eyes down.  
  
Klaus looks up from his food for the first time and nods slowly.  
“Well, very great of you… I myself canceled a few _very_ _big_ things in my life just to go to the hospital,” he says and sighs looking at a space somewhere behind Diego for a moment rolling his eyes before he turns to Diego. “You still want this?” he asks pointing at his casserole.  
  
  
Diego lets him have it and looks at Allison again wanting to say something, maybe apologize but she’s started eating again already and he doesn't have the words.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Vanya looks up from the book she’s reading to check on her sleeping brother.  
The tears on his face have dried but he still looks sad, sickly and pale.  
  
It makes something in her chest ache, it’s like they're children again.  
She stays with the one injured on the mission while the others go somewhere else. That was her job right from the very first mission someone got hurt on.  
In a way staying with the injured was a privilege she had that her siblings hadn’t.  
Which is why she volunteered to stay with Luther in the first place.  
  
The only time she hasn’t been there was when Ben died.  
  
Luther makes a noise in his sleep somewhere in between a grunt and a whine, Vanya glances at him and tries to hush him.  
  
At least he’s still _here_.  
The injuries all seem horrible but at the very least Luther is right here in the bed and they can still touch him.  
  
It’s not like it was with Five and Ben and Vanya has to tell herself that.  
She leans back again and continues to read for a while.  
  
  
  
“Where’s everyone else?” His voice sounds just like he looks, small and pale and tired.  
Vanya peeks up from behind her book. “They went out to eat,” she tells him, neglecting to mention that Allison also set out to scream at Diego for the way he treated him.  
She doesn't want to remind him of that now.  
  
“Why didn’t you go with them?”  
“We didn’t want you to wake up on your own and I’ve already eaten,” she explains and scans his face finding guilt there.  
“I’m keeping you here,” he says looking at her from the bed.  
“No, Luther,” Vanya says and puts her hand on his. “We want you to be okay now and like I said I’ve eaten lunch after practice already. So it’s fine that I stayed. Really,” she says and she hopes he’ll believe it because she doesn’t know what else to tell him.  
Luther nods his head slowly and she breathes out.  
  
  
“Vanya?” he asks after some silence.  
“Yes?”  
“Is what Diego said true? With… Dad? That he doesn’t care about us?”  
  
  
_He never cared about me very obviously,'_Vanya thinks bitterly. _You didn’t care then._  
  
But she doesn’t tell him that, instead she says: “Diego’s just angry… not at you, just at what happened and because he’s unable to help much right now,” she tries to calm him as good as she can.  
Luther bites around on his lip again and nods slowly. “Are you angry?”  
Vanya shakes her head and smiles slightly. “I’m sorry that this happened to you,” she tells him and that is the truth, she is sorry and it makes her sad to see Luther like this but there’s a nasty voice in the back of her head that tells her that Luther somewhat got what was coming to him.  
It’s the same voice that talks to her when she’s sitting at home writing down everything from her childhood as if she’s possessed.  
She doesn’t want to listen to that voice now, Luther needs her to be understanding and kind.  
“And I’m sorry that Dad isn’t here,” Vanya tells him softly.  
Luther nods slowly and looks down at his blanket.  
  
“You know… Dad always says that he’s able to… to fix... anything that goes wrong on missions. So I just should get home straight and I couldn’t… I didn’t get there in time,” he mumbles. “Maybe I was just too slow and maybe now it’s… I’m just too damaged now and he can’t fix it now. Maybe that’s why he isn’t here right now.”  
Vanya tries to ignore the conflicting emotions welling up in her chest, she should take one of her pills later.  
“Oh, Luther,” she says softly. “I don’t know why Dad isn’t here right now… but we are here. I mean… maybe Dad will come soon? But if he doesn’t… we’ll all still be here.”  
  
She really hopes that this will be enough for Luther even when they’ve never seemed to be enough for each other when they were younger.  
Luther looks at her however and nods his head slowly and to her surprise he even smiles a little.  
“Thank you,” he says.  
Vanya smiles back.  
  
  
Maybe things aren’t that bad after all.  
There’s still hope.  
Luther’s still here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, 
> 
> I'm really not sure if I like this chapter. I worked on it for a really long time and it's late right now so I dunno. Maybe I just need some sleep. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it anyway, if not I'm sorry. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> ~ Jo


	3. Help

A few days after Luther finally woke up his doctor comes to talk with him about how his treatment is going to go.   
Luckily she is okay with his siblings, who are always around now, staying while she explains everything because Luther isn’t listening.   
Not because she seems unfriendly or because what she says is boring but because he just really doesn’t want to hear about this stuff.   
The accident.   
His injuries.   
The treatment that is going to follow.   
It’s too much. Waking up in the hospital alone had been scary and confusing, despite Klaus being there and doing his very best to explain everything to him and these are just more scary and confusing things. 

She talks about damage to his muscle and skin tissue and how things are going to be hard for him at first and how he’ll need to let others help him a little, she also talks about recovery and about Luther having been very lucky overall.   
He doesn’t feel very lucky, he feels like his whole life changed very suddenly for the worse. 

  
  
So instead of listening he stares out of the window, in the general direction of home.   
He tries to imagine that the smudged point at the horizon might be the house they grew up in. It’s big enough to be seen from here… maybe. He’s never been in this part of town aside from missions…   
Dad didn’t tell him that there were people still in the building. Shouldn’t he have told him?   
It was almost too much but at least he got everyone out and stopped it.  
He still wants to know why Dad hasn’t told him or why he isn’t here yet.   
He keeps expecting him, keeps thinking that anytime the door opens it’s going to be Dad just to be disappointed when it’s just a nurse or one of his siblings… and then to feel bad for feeling disappointed when his siblings really don’t have to be here.   
Luther knows of course why Dad isn’t turning up.   
Because he failed.   
Because he didn’t get the mission done right.   
His siblings lie to him, say it isn’t his fault at all but Luther knows better.   
It’s punishment, simple punishment. He’s getting punished by getting ignored which has always been one of Dad’s favourite punishments. 

“Do you have any other questions?” the doctor asks suddenly, ending her speech.   
Luther looks up blinking and shakes his head. He doesn’t have any question left.   
She smiles and nods.   
“I know this is a lot right now, Mr Hargreeves but over time it’ll get better,” she tells him and then she leaves Luther and his siblings in the hospital room. 

  
  
For a moment Luther relaxes, leaning back slightly, breathing out, looking down on his hands, the damaged one as well as the one that is less hurt.   
  
“So… this doesn’t sound too bad overall, does it?” Allison asks and puts on a smile. 

Luther shrugs.  
He’s not sure if he’d call this _not too bad overall_ but he doesn’t want to worry his siblings any more.   
Doesn’t want to cry again and make them calm him down, knows he can’t ask for Dad anymore without making Diego angry again.   
So he swallows it all down and chooses apathy.   
That’s something he can just pull up, maybe from a dark place deep inside of him but it’s better than the alternative.

  
Vanya smiles and puts a small hand onto his shoulder brushing over it slightly.   
That’s something Vanya does often now.   
Little touches. Not much more than the feeling of a butterfly landing on his skin but they help steady him no matter what.   
“You’ll be fine, Luther,” she tells him. 

“Yes,” Klaus reinforces that statement. “We’re just going to listen to the doctors and work really hard on getting you outta here as soon as possible.” 

_We. _  
It’s the same ominous We some of the nurses use here and Klaus seems to have adopted that language.   
Or maybe Klaus uses the same We they used when they were young.   
The We they used when they said: “Our next mission.” or “Our Dad.” or “We are going to Griddy’s.”   
A We that came from a You children that was uttered by Dad, by Pogo, sometimes even by Mom.  
A We that seems broken and lost, was broken and lost long before Luther ended up here, broken himself.   
And Luther would be on his own if it wasn’t for his siblings.   
For all of them.   
Forcing the We again, the Us.

“Yes,” Vanya says and nods softly. “We just want you to get better, Luther.”   
And just like that the We is split up. In a Them and a Him.   
  
Vanya looks at him with her soft, earnest eyes and Luther feels immediately guilty for thinking that after all for a long time it was a Them and a Her for Vanya.  
Even if they never wanted to exclude her.   
It’s that cold guilt in his chest that brings him to nod his head.   
  
“Yes, I know… I’ll do what they tell me.”   
He’s not sure though. Does he even deserve to get better? Get back on his feet, gain back movement?   
Dad doesn’t seem to think so or else he’d be here by now.   
  


“That’s not enough,” comes from the corner where Diego has been standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “You can’t just say that you’ll ‘do what they tell you’, Luther. You’ve gotta _want_ to get better too. You hear me?”   
Luther looks down at his hands.   
The right is so wrapped up in bandages so that Luther isn’t able to see any part of it while his left is just lightly bandaged, he can move it but when he uses it too much it kind of cramps up. That’s something physical therapy is supposed to help with as well.   
He needs so much help now...  
  
“Luther? Diego’s right, you know,” Allison says with a sigh. “You have to promise to do more than just try…”   
“Yes,” Vanya agrees looking down at her feet. “You need to care about yourself… about this.”   
Klaus looks at their siblings and shakes his head.   
“Guys! I’m sure Luther does care, right? And he’ll… he will listen to the doctors and we’ll make sure that he wants to do it too, okay?”   
Luther looks at Klaus who smiles at him quickly before turning back to the others again.  
  
That’s another weird thing happening right now, Luther’s siblings talk about him. Not with him. Like instead of being their age he is a toddler who can’t make decisions for himself who needs to have decisions made for him.   
“Yeah,” he mumbles to show that Klaus is right but he doesn’t think it’ll make much difference.   
Klaus smiles at him anyway and that helps making him feel a little better.   
  
  
Diego sighs and leaves his corner.   
“Me and Eudora are gonna check out their physical therapy room,” he says. “She knows about that kind of stuff.”   
Luther has learned that Eudora is Diego’s girlfriend. She’s been coming with him to the hospital from time to time but never goes up to see Luther and he questions if Diego is ashamed of him and doesn’t want her to see him or if she maybe doesn’t like him for some reason.  
“Say hello to her from me,” he says.  
Just because she might not like him didn’t mean he can’t be polite to her. She’s his brother’s lover after all and Luther wants to be polite.   
Diego frowns and nods.  
“Okay,” he says with a shrug and then walks out of the door.   
  


Vanya and Allison excuse themselves as well to go eat while Klaus stays with him.   
There’s always someone staying with him now. He’s glad for it on one hand, likes that he doesn’t have to talk with the nurses and doctors himself, that they get entertained by Klaus’ chatter or Allison’s well placed small talk, or they just don’t talk more than the necessities because of Diego’s angry stares or Vanya’s shyness.   
But on the other hand he knows he’s being a burden to his siblings. They could be at home with their friends or partners, enjoy life and not stay in this small, weirdly smelling hospital room with the brother who was just far too late to ever take said life for himself who still doesn’t really want to change what has been his reality forever even though Luther knows that he’s forced to now.  
  
  
“Earth to Luther, Luther please come in,” Klaus says with a hand over his mouth trying to mock bad connection.  
Luther wants to tell him that he is on earth, that he won’t ever be anywhere else now, that any dreams about going to space (as childish as they might have been) are now very much passé but he doesn’t tell him that, it would hurt Klaus maybe and Klaus is already taking on so much for him. He’s here and he knows that Klaus hates hospitals… or used to at least last time Luther saw him in one when they were 18 and he hadn’t been the only one left at home yet, when Klaus’ overdose was after Ben’s death the scariest thing Luther ever went through and when things still made semi-sense.  
  
“Luther?” Klaus sounds more impatient now.   
“Uh… yeah?”   
“I was asking if it’s okay if I open the window or if it’ll be too cold for you?”   
“It’s fine,” Luther answers unsure if that’s the truth.   
Klaus gets up opens the window and breathes in the fresh air.   
It makes Luther feel dizzy and sleepy and he leans back watches Klaus in the window shifting, never still and looking at spaces where nothing seems to be.   
It doesn’t take long until he falls asleep again.   
  


* * *

Allison and Vanya walk to the restaurant they recently discovered.   
They’re talking about Allison’s agent, Vanya’s music, the young and really handsome man that Allison met recently, the first child Vanya’s teaching the violin too and his overambitious parents.  
Anything but Luther.   
Both of them know that their conversation will come back to that topic eventually, it always does but for now they’re trying to enjoy each other’s company, yay sisters.   
“... and they seriously asked me when he can have his first concert. We’re not even at _Frere Jacques_ yet but they’re dreaming about their son being a famous violinist already,” Vanya shakes her head.   
“I mean I get it kind of…” Allison says. “If I ever had a child I’d probably think they’d be a prodigy at everything they did too.”   
“Yes but you wouldn’t stress their violin teacher.”   
“_Never_, I wouldn’t want to stress you ever,” Allison smiles at Vanya and they both start to giggle.   
This actually feels nice. Being with each other. Talking to each other like two actual adults.   
Like sisters who don’t have a messed up family. Two normal girls in their early twenties going out for dinner. It's good.   
  


“Allison Hargreeves?”   
She closes her eyes for a second and turns around big bright smile on her face. “Yes?”   
It’s just a fan thankfully, just a teenage girl with braces and a starstruck look in her eyes.   
“You’re really her! Woah!” the girl says and smiles. “Oh my God can you give me an autograph, please?”   
She does onto the page of the pink notebook the girl has with her.   
“Are you here because of what happened to your brother?” the girl asks as Allison scribbles her autograph down. “I’m not into the superhero stuff but my big brother is… he’s really liked the whole academy stuff back when he was my age. I like your movies more. But anyways, hope Spaceboy gets better soon and thanks for the autograph. I really need to get home now!”   
  
She's gone as fast as she turned up and Allison looks a little taken aback before she turns to Vanya.   
“Sorry,” she mumbles and looks at her sister awkwardly.   
Vanya has backed away a little looking at her.   
“It’s… it’s fine,” she says. “Let’s hurry though, I’m starving.”   
  
  


Allison is still thinking about what happened with the girl once they sit down in the restaurant and Vanya notices that she’s distracted.   
“Are you okay?” she asks her sister.   
“Yes I was just thinking about this fan interaction… I mean this was just a little girl but even she knows about Luther,” Allison tells Vanya and bites on her lip thoughtfully.   
“Yes… I mean it was on the news, that’s how I found out about it,” Vanya tells her and Allison nods her head.   
“I know it’s how I did too… just… do you think Luther knows? Everyone knows about his accident but do you seriously think he knows that it was in the press? Have you seen how some of them talk about it?”   
Vanya sighs. “Oh come on, Allison. It’s not like it's on the big news anymore… they just mentioned it in a few tabloids and the type of shows that discuss stars that nobody thinks about any more’. ”   
“It was discussed a lot, Vanya and I don’t think you understand…” she says and frowns looking up at her sister. “There will at the very least be talk about me being here. I am not only in ‘tabloids and the type of shows that discuss that nobody thinks about any more’.”   
Vanya just shrugged quietly and sighed. “Let’s just order something…”   
Allison agrees. She doesn't want to fight with her sister. 

But she can't stop worrying about the press either

* * *

  
  
When Luther wakes up Diego is back in his corner and Klaus is gone.  
Luther sighs and tries to go back to sleep.   
He doesn’t really want to talk to Diego.   
  
He also doesn’t know what to do with his time… sleep is the best option he has.   
At least sleeping he doesn’t have to think about what happened.   
  
  
But only moments after the door gets opened.   
Luther opens one of his eyes and sees a nurse enter with a tray of food asking himself if he maybe should just pretend like he’s still sleeping but Diego won't have it of course.   
“Come on, dinner’s here,” he says getting up and putting a hand on Luther’s good shoulder shaking him lightly.   
Even Diego is more gentle with him now tries to not hurt any part of his body, like Luther might break if he’s too rough with him.   
But that doesn’t mean he’ll let him off easy.   
“Luther! Come on,” he says and shakes him again. “I know you’re not asleep.”   
Luther sighs and opens his eyes looking up at his brother with annoyance.   
“I’m not hungry.”   
“Tough,” Diego says and puts the tray in front of him. “Look. It’s soup. Come on… eat!” he said and pushes the tray towards him.   
Luther sighs and takes the spoon.  


While Luther eats Diego keeps his eyes on him, making sure he’s really eating.  
After he has finished about half of the soup Luther puts down the spoon and makes a face.   
  
“What’s wrong?” Diego asks and looks at his brother.   
“I’m not hungry anymore,” Luther claims and Diego shakes his head clicking his tongue.   
“You didn’t have anything else today Luther. Don’t bullshit me. What’s wrong?”   
Luther looks away. “My hand hurts,” he says and looks down at his left hand - the hand that is supposed to be his _good_ hand! - that has started to cramp up under the bandages.   
  
  
Diego nods and sighs. “You still hungry?”   
Luther nods. “A little.”   
“Okay,” Diego says and takes the spoon from him.   
He fills it with soup and brings it up to Luther’s mouth.   
  
Luther stares at his brother and the spoon full of soup for a moment, confused.  
  
“What? Are you hungry or not?” Diego asks annoyed but avoids looking anywhere near  
Luther’s eyes.   
  
Luther nods and takes the spoon feeling his face heat up as the realization sinks in that he is getting fed by his brother.   
  
“Don’t look at me like that, dude,” Diego says weirdly soft. “You need to eat one way or another, okay?”   
“Okay.”   
“Good. I’m helping you, okay?”   
“Okay.”   
“And you need the help right now.”   
“Okay… yes.” 

Diego nods and fills the spoon with soup again holding it out for him.   
Luther eats. 


	4. (Un)welcome visit

Things seem quiet okay then for a while at least. Not good but better.   
Okay instead of absolutely hopeless.   
They’re adjusting to the situation though in a way Diego thinks (and hopes) their father would not be happy with at all.

  
Diego for some reason finds himself in the role of the spokesperson of the family. He’s the one that the doctors and nurses talk to about Luther’s progress, he’s the one that tries to communicate what Luther wants to everyone else and tell Luther what’s best for him.   
This is a weird role for Diego and more often than not he asks himself if Allison isn’t better suited for this.   
But of course Allison has other things to do now, she’s trying to handle the financial stuff and get things ready for the time Luther will be out of the hospital - whenever that will be.   
Vanya and Klaus still visit too though Klaus is starting to be less and less around and Diego feels reminded of the time when Klaus started to slip into the jungle of drugs he’s in now back when they were young teens and Diego feels less inclined to put any responsiblity on him.  
Vanya is good at distracting Luther at least, brings him books and tells him about orchestra stuff Diego finds pretty boring but Luther seems interested in. 

Luther has started physical therapy and is doing pretty well with it. The combination of it being a lot like training and his physical therapist being quick to praise him - something Luther always had been hungering for - makes him actually enjoy it. Though often he complains about things going too slow, about not being able to do more yet and everyone has to remind him about things being very bad and that his body is not ready for more.

That’s how things are for weeks.   
Diego starts to think they might actually be able to do this. 

* * *

And then he walks into the hospital again.   
Klaus is supposed to stay with Luther until he gets back from the police academy (Diego still can’t think academy without putting _police_ in front of it, he does it in speaking too which a lot of people find weird and comment about as if he isn’t self conscious enough about his speaking) but Allison called and said Klaus isn't there yet when she said goodbye to Luther and she couldn’t stay because she’s having some kind of appointment with someone who’s important and Luther said he can be alone… but Diego doesn’t think so.   
Luther isn’t actually good at being alone. He might think so but Diego knows better.   
That’s something new too… something Diego kinda likes if he’s being honest with himself being the one that knows best, the one that understands the situation at hand. Being the leader.   
It’s stressful too especially now that he’s hurrying to get to the hospital before Luther decides he’s ready to go for a walk or something similar stupid he just can’t do right now while Klaus is wherever the hell he is. 

So Diego is already expecting the worst but he isn’t prepared for that.   
Maybe if he had taken the time to look around he would have seen the slick black car in the parking lot and realized that Luther is not just in danger of his own stupid ideas.   
But he doesn’t notice it so when he hears the voice from his brother’s room, that cold collected and completely emotionless voice that had reigned over their childhood, the voice that he had hoped to never hear again… he’s unprepared. 

“You really do have to consider this, number one. I’m merely offering you an easy out. You choose to take it or you can choose not to which of course would be unwise,” their father’s voice says and Diego freezes. 

He’s here. Their Dad is here.   
He’s in this hospital talking to his brother. 

Diego’s first instinct is to turn around and run.   
That’s been a good strategy throughout his childhood. Avoiding the conflict. Looking away when one of his siblings is in trouble. Trying to mind his business.   
But he isn’t a child anymore and that strategy had stopped working a long time ago. If it ever really worked, Diego’s far too righteous to look away when his father’s unfairly being an ass to his siblings. 

So Diego doesn’t turn around to leave Luther alone with their awful father.  
He walks up to the room while Reginald continues talking and Diego’s unable to go in for a few horrible seconds. He just listens.

“This would be a lot easier if you had gone straight home, Number one, I hope you know that.”   
“Yes, sir, I’m sorry,” Luther’s voice sounds detached and yet more broken than he had the past days and that’s what does it for Diego. He enters the room and his father is standing at the end of Luther’s bed looking down at his brother who’s just staring at him. 

“Dad?” Diego asks through gritted teeth. “What are you doing here?”   
“Number two, hello, I’m visiting your brother.”   
“I think that visit is over now,” he says and glares at his father. “I’m sure you have other things to do.”   
Their father stares him down and then looks back at Luther. “You don’t have much time left, number one. Think about it.”   
And then, finally, he leaves without a word of Goodbye and Diego breathes out. 

Okay, Problem one solved, now let’s take care of whatever their father has done to Luther.   
He turns to look at his brother who's still staring at the point their Dad had just stood talking down to him. 

  
“You good?” he asks looking at his brother.   
Luther looks at him and for a moment Diego thinks his brother is going to cry and he doesn’t know what to do because he thinks if Luther’s gonna cry he’ll start to cry too and that won’t help anyone right now.   
But Luther doesn’t start crying. Instead he looks up at Diego quietly and mumbles: “Dad said he could help me.” 

Diego’s blood freezes. 

“He _can’t_. He lied, Luther,” he tells his brother fixing him with a stare.   
“Dad doesn’t lie, he values honesty,” Luther says immediately. It doesn’t sound like something he says because he knows it for a fact or even really believes in but because he’d been told so.   
Diego wants to scream at his brother, he wants to make him see that their Dad is an absolute motherfucking asshole, he wants all of this to be easier.   
“You’re an idiot if you actually think that,” he tells him instead staring him down.   
Luther looks away again. “I’m not,” he mumbles. “I’m not an idiot and I am so done with all of you patronizing me!”   
“We’re not… you’re hurt all we want to do is _help_ you!” Diego’s voice is getting significantly louder the more they talk.   
“Dad does too!”   
“Oh, bullshit…” Diego rubs his hands over his face, shaking his head. “You can’t… you can not trust him, after all the shit he put us through! All the shit he put _you_ through!” 

Luther’s silent after that and Diego isn’t sure if that’s because he’s being stubborn or if he might understand this after all or if he’s just run out of things to say. Diego has. 

He sighs and sits down on a chair next to his brother’s bed crossing his arms in front of his chest. He wants to reach out to him maybe pat one of the places it doesn’t hurt Luther to be touched and make him feel that things are gonna be okay but his arms are already crossed tightly. He wants to do so many things but he can’t. Neither of them can. 

* * *

Luther was the first of them to get hurt seriously on a mission.   
Diego remembers that clearly despite everything of their early youth seeming like a flash.   
He remembers it was his fault he hadn’t looked out. 

He remembers being shoved aside and he remembers a loud bang and he remembers Ben’s scream and then he remembers Luther and blood, so much blood staining the stupid tight suits they had to wear whenever they went on dangerous missions, the ones that are too tight and that made him feel even more self conscious because all of his siblings looked good in them except for him.  
Diego remembers the man with the gun in his hand pointing it at him, remembers the grin on his face and remembers that he said something, which he doesn’t remember because it wasn’t important, what was important enough for him to remember is that he wiped that smile from his face in one swift move throwing his knife straight into his throat making sure he would never say anything again… or shoot a thirteen-year-old who was too grown-up and at the same time too childish for his age and who kept asking Dad if they couldn’t talk about space during interviews despite Dad… being Dad. 

Then his memories become a flash again and he isn’t too sure what happened next, he thinks Klaus was next to him at some point talking too fast and too loudly and Allison kneeling over Luther’s pale and still bleeding body. 

The moment his memory picks up again is Luther laying in their infirmary opening his blue eyes and looking around the room blearly.   
He remembers Mom and the others being there too and how Luther smiled a little at that.   
“Thanks for being here,” he remembers his brother saying.   
Then Dad walked in and Luther’s smile fell from his face and they were ushered out. 

It’s never good when Dad visits your sickbed. He always has a speech ready of how it’s all your fault and how you should have and could have done better.   
A speech Luther now got and a speech he apparently still believes. 

* * *

Diego waits until Luther is at physical therapy before he calls Allison and tells her about Dad’s visit. 

“And Luther wants to take him up on the offer?”   
“I’m not sure… he’s… I think he might,” he mumbles into the phone weirdly glad to hear his sister’s voice.   
“Okay. Shit… whatever Dad’s planning on doing it can’t be good…”   
“No, it can’t be, r-right?”   
“We’ll… we’ll figure it out, Diego,” she tells him and her voice is soft for a second. “I’ll be at the hospital in ten minutes… do you know where Klaus has been?”   
“No. I… shit… I didn’t think about him since I’ve seen Dad…”   
“It’s okay… he’ll be somewhere. He always figures out ways to get out of trouble, I just… I’m just really annoyed he wasn’t with Luther today.”   
“Me too…”   
“We’ll talk to him about it.”   
“Yeah…”   
“See you in a bit.”   
“See you…” 

Diego hangs up and watches Luther struggle to walk while holding onto a bar the physical therapist behind him and puts his arms around himself.   
Luther takes his steps, shaky, pain and concentration making him knit his eyebrows together.   
And before he knows it his brother almost falls over. 

_This isn’t going to be easy_, Diego thinks as the physical therapist announces that Luther’s done for the day making him protest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is that I'm sorry.   
I knew he was gonna turn up from the day I started writing this.   
…   
Sorry. 
> 
> ~ Jo


	5. Broken doors and vultures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Sorry for the long time I didn't post. This chapter gave me a lot of trouble and I'm still not completely happy about it. Also added to that I had finals and just a lot of stress in general. 
> 
> As some clarification: I don't believe the serum from Reggie was actual Monkey DNA but something with which he could detach heads and put them on other bodies and therefore Luther's body in the show is an actual gorilla just modified by Reginald. I hope you don't mind me working on the basis of that theory instead of the DNA one.

Klaus knows he forgot about something, he just doesn’t remember what it was which really, could you shame him for that? At the moment he can’t even remember where he is or why he’s hurting so much which seem like the more important questions. 

He tries to open his eyes but he’s surrounded by far too bright light and he has to close them again, groaning.

“Are you finally awake? And sober?” Ben’s voice is full of annoyance and disappointment. Great. What the hell has Klaus done to get his dead brother mad at him? 

“I just… Geeze Ben just… let me…” he stammers.   
“Oh get a grip already,” Ben sounds more pissed than he has in a while after Klaus went on a bender. After a bit he got used to Klaus’ lifestyle.   
“Come on gimme a minute, please, Ben…” 

“We don’t have a minute. You left Luther alone!” Ben finally says the anger in his voice apparent and Klaus wants to slap himself.   
Shit. He was supposed to get to the hospital and sit with Luther for a while to entertain him for a bit and distract him from his horrible accident he’d had because none of them can just catch a break for once.   
He had just wanted to get some drugs before he went to the hospital which was full of ghosts that kept screaming at him.   
And then… he completely blacked out after that. 

“Oh… shit… Diego’s gonna kill me,” Klaus says and finally opens his eyes realizing he’s in a (very, very bright) bathroom, to be exact in the bathtub in which he had apparently slept in. “Are… can I still make it?” he asks his brother hopefully. If it’s so bright outside it’s still day so maybe… 

Ben, who has placed himself on the toilette shrugs. “Well… it’s been three days so I’d say no…” 

“Three _days_??” Klaus asks with big eyes. “I was… I mean this was a three day long bender?”   
“Yes!” Ben answers and looks at him with annoyance. “I’ve been trying to get you out of it and get to the fucking hospital for all of those three days!”   
“Oh…” Klaus mumbles.   
“Yes! Oh! So. Now you need to get your ass to the hospital because Dad was there and now Dad is there again!”   
“What?”  
“Yes,” Ben said and looked at him. 

“Wait… how do you know Dad was there anyway?”   
“Because…” Ben looked down. “Well, ever since Luther had the accident I… I partially stayed in the room. Ghost perk, I guess…”   
“Ah…” Klaus says, he’s never been too interested in how the whole ghost thing worked, Ben was the only one he talked to voluntarily.   
“And he’s back… he’s…” Ben looks up at the ceiling. “He and Luther are leaving his room… he told him something.”   
“What did he tell him?” Klaus asks starting to collect his clothes from where they’re scattered on the ground and putting them on as quickly as he can.   
“I don’t… I’m not sure. Just some lie!”   
“Okay… okay, yeah. Sounds like Dad…” Klaus can’t believe it. For some reason he had thought that their father would give up on Luther just like he gave up on every one of them when they finally escaped him… but Luther was truly different that way, he was the last to stay, the last one of them who he still had control over, they should’ve seen it coming. Should have known their Dad wouldn’t let go of the last piece of the twisted little game he’d been playing with them for twenty-two years that easily.   
But they had thought they were safe, Luther was safe. Thought his injuries and their long time effects were protection enough, that Dad would never want him if he wasn’t able to be a superhero anymore.   
Klaus could kick himself for not seeing this was coming. Nothing ever went like how they wanted it to, did it? 

  
“Let’s just go,” he said then. “You, uh… you know the way, right?”   
Klaus barely knows where they are much less how to get to the hospital.   
Ben rolls his eyes. “Yes, I know the way,” he assures him and walks through the wall. “Come on now.” 

Klaus sighed and opened the door of the bathroom revealing a small filthy apartment full of passed out and sleeping people. Great.   
He slowly and as quietly as possible walks around them to get to the exit where Ben, who has the luxury of just walking through people and not having to be quiet, is already waiting.   
“Let’s go,” Klaus says and they leave the apartment. 

  
It is early morning and the streets are empty. Klaus is almost certain that no hospital allows visitors at this time of day… but then again he is certain that Reginald Hargreeves does not give a shit about such rules especially not when it’s about his precious Number One.   
Klaus sighs and looks over at Ben not sure how to address an issue he’s having. 

“Ben? Luther… I mean if he wants to go with Dad can I really make him… stop?”   
Ben sighs and shakes his head. “He doesn’t want it… he just does what Dad tells him…”   
“How do you know what Luther wants?” Klaus asks with a frown.   
“I just do, okay?” Ben says and makes a face.   
“Okay. Fine.”  
“And now shut up I need to concentrate to see what they are doing…” 

Klaus shuts up and instead concentrates on not throwing up. He really took it too far didn’t he? God… and that right when Luther needed him. He tries to push the guilt he’s feeling down. He could feel guilty when Luther was safe or more hurt or... whatever Dad was planning. 

“_**FUCK**_!” Ben yells suddenly and Klaus almost stumbles over his feet.  
“What?” he asks and looks around.   
“Luther just... shit... hurry come on!” he says and starts running leaving Klaus no other choice but run after him.

  
When they reach the street Klaus sees what Ben meant. 

* * *

  
Luther knows it was stupid. He knew it was when he had trouble getting out of his bed and his father told him he should hurry up not offering any help.   
But also… he wanted that solution. He wanted it so badly and he wanted for things to go back to how they were… though Luther wasn’t sure if that meant how things were before the accident or all the way back before Ben died, before Five left… back when things still made sense all the way… 

It doesn’t matter what he wanted, does it? It’s unreachable anyway. Especially now.   
He can’t believe Dad. He can’t believe what his father… what he would do…   
Just to keep him useful. 

Luther shivers. He wanted to replace his body with one that would have worked.   
Like Luther is really just a tool. A hammer with a broken handle… Dad hadn’t been able to get a new hammer handle but the handle of the screwdriver would do too right? 

There’s a clicking noise somewhere behind him. It’s so loud Luther wants to press his hands over his ears but at the same time he barely registers it. Everything is so far away.

Dad had killed a gorilla for him.   
A gorilla has now given his life for nothing because Luther… Luther doesn’t want to change his body even if that means being useless like this forever.   
Childish. That’s what Dad had called his protest.   
And it probably was. He’d broken the car door, the last time he had broken a door was when he was seven and in a rage about… Luther doesn’t remember… but Dad is right he is being childish, he’d gone with him willingly and now he is throwing a tantrum, like a child!   
Diego will be so mad too. And Allison. They had both told him not to do what Dad said and yet he had! 

He’s so… _so stupid_… why is he so stupid? 

“Luther! Luther! Hey, hey, hey… oh shit…” 

Oh. Klaus is here. When did Klaus get here?   
Klaus looks really upset. Of course. He must be mad at him too.   
Luther messed it all up. His siblings won’t come to visit him in the hospital anymore… would the hospital even take him back? The nurses and doctors there must already be annoyed with him. He would be. 

“Alright, okay… Jesus Christ… Luther? Can you hear me?” 

Luther nods he doesn’t feel like talking. There’s the clicking again a few time in repetition now. Klaus looks up at it with a bit of a frown before looking back at Luther. 

“Okay, that’s good, great. I’ll… I’ll just call an ambulance really quick… there’s… okay… Luther? Okay… okay… we’ll… we’ll take care of you, yeah? Don’t worry, bro. We’ll take care of you.” 

Luther blinks slowly. He doesn’t really understand.

“Dad…” he starts but stops his breathing hitches. 

“Ssshhh… you can tell me later, okay?” Klaus says and looks at Luther. “Do… do you maybe want to lay down a little bit? You… I think you need to lay down. Hm?” 

Klaus’ voice is soft but there’s a tightness to it and Luther doesn’t want to argue with him about this because Klaus is there at least and maybe if he tells him that actually he doesn’t want to lay down right now Klaus will go away again. Maybe anything Luther does will make people feel like he’s annoying. Really, really annoying. Because he is. So Luther nods and Klaus helps him lay down. 

“How about you… let go of the door? I don’t think you need to keep holding it…” 

The door? The door… oh. Luther slowly opens his hand which hurts and the car door falls onto the street. He didn’t notice he was still holding it.  
Great. He wants to hide somewhere but he can’t because Klaus is already putting his head down on his folded jacket. 

“Alright… just. Stay here, okay? I’ll just call the ambulance real quick and then I’ll be back in like a second okay? Good. Just… okay.” 

* * *

  
Klaus gets to the phone booth Ben behind him, looking more than a little distressed. 

“The vultures are there, you know that right?”   
Klaus nods. “I’m high, Ben. Not blind.” He’s seen the guy with the camera too. “Wonder how they found him so quickly…”   
Ben shrugs. “They probably saw Dad’s car moving. It’s not often that eccentric billionaire Reginald Hargreeves leaves his mansion after all.”   
“Mmh, great then why… wasn’t there like an ambulance already on the way?”   
“Because an ambulance would obstruct the view of some really good shots of Spaceboy the tragically injured former super hero from our childhood? And his brother the Séance coming to his rescue? It makes a great story.”   
“Oh, I fucking hate being famous!” 

Klaus calls an ambulance and then Allison who scribbled the number of the hotel she's staying in on a small piece of paper for him and put and xoxo behind it which made Klaus think of when they were kids and she was leaving for Hollywood. It had only been four years but somehow it felt like a lifetime.   
He knew Diego’s number by heart of course but he didn't want to call him. He’d be mad about him not being there for Luther. Allison is too a little bit he can hear that in her sleepy voice but at least she doesn't yell at him and also thanks him for finding Luther before… whatever Dad wanted to do could happen. 

Klaus quickly runs back to Luther glaring at the small bulk of people with cameras that have gathered by now. Great. They’d make the front page of quite a few gossip magazines. Better give them something to look at. He holds up both his middle fingers and sticks out his tongue before he turns to check on Luther again.   
He’s still breathing weirdly probably due to a panic attack. There’s some fresh blood running down his forehead and the arm he’d been holding the door with looks broken. 

“Hey, Luther, hey there… hey,” he says as softly as possible. “The ambulance is coming soon. We’ll go back to the hospital and I’ll make sure you get all the nice, hot nurses, hm?” Klaus tries.   
Ben rolls his eyes. “I don’t think Luther cares about hot nurses,” he hisses.   
Klaus waves him off he doesn’t even think Luther’s listening, he’s just talking to calm himself down.   
“You’ll be okay,” he tells Luther now, trying his best to obstruct the view on his brother with his body when he hears the clicking of cameras. “It’ll be okay.” Maybe if he repeats it often enough it will come true. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So. Another hospital ride. Another round of being worried. Things are about to get more complicated.  
Again I really don't like this chapter that much.  
But I'm getting where I want to go so!  
Hope you still liked it. Thank you for reading. 
> 
> ~ Jojo

**Author's Note:**

> Hello.  
First of all most of my medical knowledge comes from bad TV-shows and reading articles for research purposes. I'll get a lot wrong.  
This is really just for myself, playing with the whole concept of Luther's accident. 
> 
> Secondly I'm not sure how often I can update and it might go very slow. Sorry. 
> 
> This is also entirely me trying to get all the bad stuff I feel out. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this. 
> 
> ~ Jo


End file.
